


The Lost Rose

by imgilmoregirl



Series: Dark Beauty [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Family, Two Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-20
Updated: 2017-04-21
Packaged: 2018-10-21 23:32:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10685175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imgilmoregirl/pseuds/imgilmoregirl
Summary: S1 AU Two-Shot: After first meeting Emma, Gold comes to the realization that he spent 28 years without noticing something very important. The last part he has left of his darling Belle: their daughter Rose.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Once Upon A Time or any of the characters and storylines in the show. This is just a fanwork made for fun.
> 
> I might be obsessed with Rumbelle AUs by now, just maybe, but this one is a little different from the other ones I wrote, but I wanted to explore a new possibility here, so I hope you all like it.

He saw her every single day for 28 years. He knew everything about her, as he did the whole town. She was a fourteen-years-old girl, with curled auburn hair and dark brown eyes, who worked at Granny’s daily after school, her name was Rosalie French, but everyone called Rose for short. Whenever he saw her walking around the streets, she always had a book with her, a smart joyful thing.

Mr. Gold used to speak with her very rarely, only talking briefly with the girl when he needed to collect the rent from her grandfather’s flower shop. He knew that she was an orphan and Moe was the only family she had left, but she never seemed very happy around him. Mr. Gold never cared for that. At least, not until he first saw the Savior, in the night she decided to stay in Storybrooke and his memories hit him.

Sitting inside of his car, Rumplestiltskin tried to conciliate all the different facts in his twisted mind. His first thoughts rested on Baelfire, since his son would always be his priority, but sooner his remembrances of a certain maid came to surface. Quickly the clumsy, brave and beautiful Belle took over him and he smiled for a moment as images of her passed on his mind. The chipped cup. The fall from the stairs, when he caught her. Their very first night together. And finally, the kiss, shared in the moment both of them realised they were in love. That damn kiss that ended everything they shared before.

Just like that, his thoughts flew to Moe French’s granddaughter. Rose. She was Belle’s daughter for sure, but what he fearful understood was that she could easily be his too. When the curse was casted it had been around fifteen years since he last saw Belle, so the girl was exactly the age a child he could have conceived in her, would be. Damn it, she even had those brown eyes, like his.

Rumplestiltskin, opened the car’s door and got out of it, in need of a long walk. It was pretty late and most of the business in Storybrooke were closed, very few people still outside their houses. His necessity of knowing if Rosalie French was truly his daughter, was burning him like fire as he walked through the streets, his car forgotten in front of his shop.

Looking up to the closed library, where the big clock had started moving this same evening, he wished to see Belle, but instead of it, he heard the unmistakable sound of someone crying down the street. Rumplestiltskin followed the noises and found Rose sat on a stool with her face in hands, painfully sobbing.

“Are you alright?” He dared asking her.

She looked up, startled. “Mr. Gold, you scared me.”

“I’m sorry. You don’t look good.”

“I’ll be.” Rose answered, although she appeared to be just about to start crying again.

“What happened?” Rumplestiltskin insisted, even knowing how strange his sudden interest in her problems would sound. However, he couldn’t contain himself when he knew that that helpless teenage girl could be his daughter.

Rose didn’t seem to bother with the question. “I lost my payment.” She explained, running a hand through her hair and biting her lower lip. At that moment, she looked so much like her mother that his heart ached.

“That’s not so bad, dearie. You can always make more money next month.”

“I know, but I needed the money today. Now my grandfather won’t be able to pay the rent for you and will get mad at me.”

He tensed. She couldn’t be just telling him that all those stupid 28 years he had been taking money that a school girl made as a waitress at Granny’s.

“Are you saying that you are the one who makes the money to pay my rent?” Rumple asked furiously.

“My grandfather’s business is not going well. He doesn’t sell too much flowers.”

“And makes a girl works to pay his bills? What kind of man is he?”

She held her blue bag a little closer to her chest, as if his anger on her grandfather had scared her and Rumplestiltskin tried to calm down. He didn’t want her to be afraid of him, so he sat by her side, fixing his gaze on his cane to let her relax again.

“The kind of man who would hit me if I didn’t get the money. Last time I didn’t brought him enough he slapped me in the face.” Rose finally confessed. “I think he doesn’t like me that much.”

Without a warning, Rumplestiltskin reached for her hand and rubbed her fingers between his on. Rose didn’t pulled away like he thought she might do, since he was the town’s most feared man, the little lack of magic that was still part of him did him a favour by confirm his suspicious as he felt an almost jolt of electricity at their contact. A recognition. She was his daughter, he could feel it. A trace of his power as the Dark One, rested on her, even in that land without magic. And that only made him want to make Moe pay even more for the things he did to that girl. To his and Belle’s girl.

“You can come home with me, Rose. I won’t let him hurt you again.”

“Thank you, Mr. Gold, but I’m afraid I need to refuse. I tried to run away once, but sheriff Graham found me and brought me home, what only made things worse.” Every feature of her face reminded him of Belle as she spoke so sincerely, and Rumple wanted to hug her and tell her he was her father, but he couldn’t. Not yet.

“Rose, do you know what a lawyer is?” He asked and she nodded in confirmation. “Well then, I’m a lawyer and I could make things easier for you, so you would never ever have to see your grandfather again.”

“But, if you do so they are going to put me in some kind of place for orphan kids outside of Storybrooke and I don’t want to go away from here, just from him.” Everything in her expression showed how desesperated she was, tears shinning in her warm brown eyes again. “I have no one to take care of me. My mother died and I never knew my father, grandpa always said he was a disgusting man that my mom should never have met and that he never wanted me.”

“This is not true.” Rumplestiltskin said before he could stop himself. His hand was still wrapped in Rose’s and he prayed she wouldn’t let go of him so soon. He wanted to fix things with her just as much as he wanted to do with Bae.

“What?” She asked, blinking at him.

“I – I just think that maybe your father never knew about you. Maybe he is out there just waiting for his chance to do the right thing for you.”

Rose smiled weakly. “That’s a good thought, Mr. Gold, but in my life things rarely play out in a good way.” She exhaled soundly. “I just don’t want to go home tonight.”

“Come with me, then.” He offered again. “We can have a cup of tea and I guarantee you that I can deal with your grandfather later.”

“Why would you do this for me? I mean, I don’t even know you.”

He sighed. “I knew your mother, a long time ago.”

“You did?” Rose asked, a little more cheerfully and let go of his hand to rest it on the silver pendant of her necklace.

“Aye, Rose, I did. She was very special and I wish I could have been a better man when I was around her.”

“What do you mean?”

Rumplestiltskin knew it was wrong, that he shouldn’t do that at this moment, just right after the Saviour finally made it to Storybrooke, making things start to change, but he wanted to end his sweet daughter’s suffering and he needed to tell her the truth if he wanted her to come home with him, leaving Moe behind. And perhaps that was a necessary chance that should be happening in this new time. “I think,” he started. “I think, sweetheart, that I may be your father.”

Eyes widening, Rose stood up, taking some steps away from him. “You what?”

“Rose, listen, please don’t hate me.” Rumplestiltskin begged. “I just found out the possibility.” A certain, of course, but he couldn’t tell her this, because it had been the last traces of magic that existed in him that confirmed his paternity.

“How?”

“I made the maths?” He gave her a smirk.

But at that point, she was already getting furious. “After fourteen years? Really, Mr. Gold? Do you want me to believe that it took you fourteen years to make the maths? You’re smarter than that.”

“Rose, please. Give me a chance.”

Rumple stood up with the help of his cane, looking at his angry daughter and recognizing himself in her rage. She blinked, fighting against her tears.

“I’m angry.”

“I can see it.”

Sighing she looked down the street, not wanting to face him. “It will take you a lot more than a cup of tea to fix things up. But I think it would be a good start.”

“Do you?”

“Yeah. And, anyway, I don’t want to face my grandfather today, so if you promise me a story about my mother, I guess I can go home with you. Just don’t expect me to call you papa or anything else.”

Rumplestiltskin smiled. “My car is outside my shop.”

“Then we should go.” Rose said.

 As she crossed the street in the dark night with Rumple following her, he thought that maybe the changes he waited for 28 years to happen were starting to occur, the best way as possible.


	2. Golden Flower

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rumple and Rose need to struggle with Moe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Once Upon A Time or any of the characters and storylines in the show. This is just a fanwork made for fun.
> 
> This one is dedicated to you, wonderful readers who wished to get more of this, so thank you all. Let me know your thoughts about Rose. I promise my next update will be the follow up to The Dark One's Boy.

“This is your house?” Rose asked in disbelief, dropping her blue bag on a couch.

“Aye.”

“And you live here alone?” When he nodded, she raised an eyebrow for him. “You must really like to have space for yourself.”

Gold take his suit jacket off and putted it on a hanger, heading to the kitchen then. Rose followed him, curiositily looking around, asking herself many times what should be most of the strange things he had carefully locked inside his glasswares. She decided that if he had a pawnbroker shop, so he must’ve be some sort of collector.

The kitchen was surprisely clean of any of that stuff. He started working on their tea and she sat on a stool by the stand.

“So, have my mother ever been here?” Rose started.

“No.” Mr. Gold replied without turning to face her, his hands occupied with the teapot. “I used to live in another place when I met her.”

“Did you like her?”

This time, he not just turned to Rose, but also approached her, giving the girl a look that reminded her of those he used to give at people who annoyed him. He had never looked at her like that, even when her grandfather was being an idiot with him. “What do you mean? Of course, I did!”

“I – Well it’ isn’t an obvious thing, Mr. Gold, since you probably left her pregnant and never cared to even ask her about the child.”

His jaw dropped. For the first time ever someone had gotten Gold speachless. Surely it had to be his daughter to do so, but it didn't mean it hadn't hurtten him. "How can you say that? I never knew she was pregnant! Never!" He shoutted out, making Rose startle on her seat. "As bad as I can be, I would never, ever abandon a child of mine."

Tears shinned on her eyes and started streaming down her cheeks. At that right instant, Rumplestiltskin regreted screaming with her. It wasn't Rose's fault that her mind was so full of doubts and mistrust. Everyone in her life had let her down. "I'm sorry. I - "

"Don't be, I deserved that. I shouldn't have spoken to you that way after you had been so good to me." She wiped her eyes, lowering her head a little. "Do you really think you are my father?"

"Yes, I do, Rose."

"So, was my mother important to you?"

"Very, very important. I should never have let her go." He walked to her side and touched her face so gently that Rose shaked a bit. She wasn't used to have people caring about her like that. "You two are very alike, you know?"

"Because of the hair?" She wondered. "I have a picture of her in my room. Grandpa always said I wasn't much my mother's daughter."

"Oh, he's pretty wrong. You have her cheeks and chin, apparentely her obsession with books and her bravery. No one has ever confronted me like you just did, unless your mom."

She gave him a little smile. "Thank you, for sharing this with me. I wish she was still here."

Mr. Gold's face darkened as he started serving their tea. "Tell me, sweetheart, how did she died?"

"Don't you know?"

"No, I was out of town when it happened and I guess nobody told me how."

Grabbing the cup of tea he was offering her, Rose took a sip of it before speaking. "We were planning to go to New York to start a new life, but we crashed the car. It fell on the sea. Somehow I got out of it alive, but not my mom. They never found her body. Graham said it probably got lost on the botton of the ocean."

With a sigh, she drunk more tea, thinking about the loving mother she would never see again.

* * *

 

"I don't think it's healty to eat a whole spunn of peanut butter right before your breakfast." Gold said, giving a look of concern to Rose while flipping a pancake.

"Surely it's not healty, but I'm going to enjoy it today, because I don't think I'll be able to do it a second time."

Gold putted the pancakes on a plate and placed it in front of her. "Not If you are under my care, young lady." He advised.

Rose laughed, eating what was left of her peanut butter. That was when they heard a rude knock on the door. Mr. Gold got his cane, walking towards the front of the house, with Rose behind him, and opened it.

Standing there were sheriff Graham and Moe French.

"You miserable monster!" Moe pointed an accusing finger to Gold. "What the hell do you think you are doing with her?"

"Mr. French, please - " The sheriff tried to start, but Gold was already speaking by himself.

"What you never did: taking care of the girl!"

"Misters, you two need to calm yourselfs." The sheriff pratically begged. "Mr. Gold, Miss Blanchard saw you taking Rosalie French to your car last night."

Rose was shaking. She knew very well that this was going to happen sooner or later, and now she was afraid of what might happen not just with her, but with Gold as well, for helping her.

"Yes, I did, and she is right here happy and safe, dearie."

"She's fourteen."

"So what? She didn't want to go home because she was afraid of her own grandfather. I'm sure you must be wondering why, sheriff."

"I'm done with this!" Moe shouted. "You better get away from her, Gold, or next time you can get arrest."

Mr. Gold laughed. "For what exactly?"

Rose felt her heart skip a bit.

"For kidnapping the girl." Graham replied.

"He didn't kidnapped me!" Rose said. "I wanted to come."

"She doesn't know what she's saying. That devilish man must have threatened her to tell us this. Rose get out of this house now!"

"No!"

"Rosalie French!"

"If she doesn't want to, then she's not going with you."

Sheriff Graham crossed his arms against his chest. "Mr. Gold, I'm sorry but you can't legaly keep her here since she is not your relative.

"Oh, but she is. It happenes, sheriff that I am Rose's father."

"What?"

"This is a lie!" Moe screamed. "There is no way you are her father."

"Really, Mr. French? Had your daughter told you so? Because I can assure you that my bed and my arms were old friends of hers."

Rose made a disgusted face. "Please, I don't need to hear about my mother in your bed." She said to Gold.

"You sick bastard! Give my granddaughter back, now!"

"No."

"Mr. Gold, we have nothing that proves your paternity, so I'm sorry but Rose must go back to Mr. French."

The girl started crying silently behind him, and when Rumplestiltskin looked at her sad face he knew he couldn't let that happen. He needed to protect his golden flower.

"Alright, dearie." He said. "Let's go to the hospital and take a DNA test."

"No, I won't stand this! You never done a thing to her. Even you if you indeed conceived her, you were never a father to Rose and are not going to take her."

"Hey, this is my life!" She shout out with the same fire her mother used to have. "And I am going to take the DNA test, I want this."

"Rosalie, you don't need to." Graham assured her.

"What I don't need sheriff is to spend another day with my grandfather. Let's do this."

She got out of the house but not left Gold's side, because she only felt safe around him. He led her to the car and they headed to Storybrooke's General Hospital, followed by Graham's car. Once there, Dr. Whale came to take their blood, promising a result by the end of the week. When it was over, the four of them, stood outside the hospital nervously gazing down the floor, all still tensed.

"You need to go home now, Rosalie." Graham said. "Until we have the results, you need to stay with your grandfather."

Moe smiled. Gold don't, neither did Rose. Actually, her hands started trembling with fear. "Please, sheriff, no."

"You can't be with Mr. Gold before his paternity is comproved, I'm sorry."

"I could stay in the police station, then. I'm sure you could use some cleaning on your cells and that wouldn't be a problem for me to do it."

"Rose!" Gold reprehended her. "You're not going to clean anything! Sheriff, you see the girl don't want to stay with Mr. French. She's afraid of him."

Graham raised one single eyebrow to the teenager. "You are?"

"Yeah." She admitted, not daring to meet her grandfather's gaze.

The sheriff sighed. "Fine, you go with Gold, but you'll need to present yourself everyday at the police station to tell me everything that's happening to you, during the whole week and if the test is negative, you'll be back to your grandfather's house, liking it or not."

"Oh, thank you, Graham. Thank you so much!"

"Wait you can't do this!" Moe protested.

"Now Mr. French, you'd better get to my car because we'll have a long day with you explaining me all the reasons your granddaughter is afraid of you."

Giving Gold a last furious look, Moe let Graham take him to the car, leaving Rumplestiltskin finally alone with his daughter.

* * *

 

They took that week to know each other. Rose was fascinated by Gold's little library at the huge pink house, and spent most of her time after school inside there. She wasn't working at Granny's anymore, since he had forbided her of taking her time that way, promising that if she wanted money she could help him at his shop. He shared some stories about Belle with her, alterating them a little bit, to make it look like it happened in that land without magic and not in the Enchanted Forest.

He gave her one of the largest bedrooms in the house and bought her new clothes so she didn't need to face her grandfather so soon to get her things in his house. Gold took her to Granny's on the Wednesday for hamburgers, and told her about the son he had lost so long ago. Rose was a great company and Rumplestiltskin was glad he had find her.

It was on the Friday afternoon, after closing the shop, that he got the results from their test and brought it to his house, were he found Rose curled on the couch with her pink notebook open on her lap, making her homework.

"Hey."

She looked up. "Oh, hey."

He held the white envelope up for her. "Look at what I just got."

Rose fastly took it from his hands and opened it, reading avid for her answer and smiled, jumping off of the couch to his arms, hugging him for the very first time in her life.

"You're my father!" She said happily.

"Yes, sweetheart, I am." Rumplestiltskin pulled her closer, his heart full of joy. "I am your papa, little girl. You can always count on me."

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. I leave my apologizes, if there is something wrong with my writing, because as you know, english is not actually my first language.


End file.
